Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 2-225 Sunday 17 Nov 2002

Reading: Psalm 134 – UNCLOUDED PRAISE

‘O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth’.(Ps 8:1,9)

This short and beautiful benediction is the last of this group of ‘songs of ascent’. Drink in its atmosphere, picturing the priests and singing Levites, ministering in the Temple to the pilgrim worshippers day and night. Some in our world may view such activity as worthless and pointless, for the world’s voices are often bitter, denigrating others or seeking to buy favour. By contrast, in these verses we find:

* Mutual blessing. The NIV’s translation of the Hebrew baruk perhaps misses the wordplay in verses 1 and 3. When used of God, baruk can mean ‘praise’; when used of man it indicates a state of happiness. Think about how you will praise God today, and ask yourself what are the roots of happiness for the Christian.(Matt 5:1-12) Is there a connection between the two?

* Expressive worship (v 2). Whatever roles the priests had in the Temple, their tasks were undergirded by worship. Worship is responding with all that we are to all that God is. Are we too timid?

* The limitless nature of God (‘the Maker of heaven and earth’). The miracle is that this same God, diminished in our pluralistic age, wants to make himself known to us. Some may hold memories of places and dates when God was especially real to them. For these biblical pilgrims, the house of the Lord was that special place. We should not limit God by slavish dependence on clock-time, but should hold to the vision of the church ‘unsleeping’ … which ‘rests not now by day or night’.(John Ellerton, 1826-93)

Acknowledge the fruits of God’s blessing on your life, and thank him!

– David Blair

Copyright Scripture Union, 2002

To order your quarterly edition of ‘Encounter with God’ or to enquire about other SU publications, contact the office nearest your region:

Australia – East Asia – Pacific – USA – or http://www.scriptureunion.org Canada – UK & International Office –